440MTB

Thanks man! A lot of hard work, and thankfully I really enjoy riding bikes, which makes it a lot easier. I started drinking beer again (I REALLY love my craft beer) a year or so back, but with exercise and in moderation, it doesn't have too much of an effect. 😁

As a result of my former life... I was very unhealthy, used to drink a lot (as in A LOT) and eat what I wanted, and as a result I was really overweight and unhealthy... I am 1.81m tall, and peaked at 113kg. I tried Atkins - worked really well. Record was 12kg in one month (which is very unhealthy), the "banting flu" also was a major shock and I didn't like it. I did Tim Noakes - Also worked well. But above was all trying to mitigate my unhealthy lifestyle. I went down to 92kg, and then I eventually went through a big lifestyle change later in life (quit drinking, started eating cleaner/less, etc), and that made a big difference, think I went down to around 80kg or maybe just under. Long story short, I've been around the block in terms of my lifestyle, weight and exercise... I currently weight 75kg (picked up a bit of weight due to lack of riding last year as a result of recovering from injury after a big crash), I usually aim for around 70 to 72kg. For me currently, the best, and healthiest way to lose/manage weight is to use something like MyNetDiary (calorie budget/counting app)... Try and figure out what your daily calorie intake should be (or go see an expert), and set your goals, try stay within your budget daily and you'll lose weight in a healthy way, you can even still have your chocolate and treats in moderation, as long as you don't go over your budget. It is a lot of effort in the beginning, but after a while you get a feel for it... it helps that my wife can help make my meals and weigh everything, and I work from home 90% of the time, so that also helps.

Hi there - It depends on your budget, but the absolute best (OEM+ quality) you can buy is SLIK Graphics (https://www.slikgraphics.com/) - it took around a week to get here (I ordered custom stickers for my ZEB & SuperDeluxe, as well as a complete ride wrap kit for my bike). There are some other local companies that can help you like Ballistic Bike Armour (https://www.facebook.com/BallisticBikeArmour/ & https://www.instagram.com/ballistic_bike_armour) In my experience you can't beat the SLIK stuff, it's OEM (if not better) quality, but if you just want something that's good enough quality for custom colours etc, you can reach out to Nic at BBA - His clear protection is great quality though, I just found the print quality of the stickers a tad under OEM quality, but still good. I've seen a few other local companies, but I only have experience with BBA and SLIK, so can't really comment on the others.

I missed it here... BUT, that rig of yours is imprinted in my mind's eye... especially after the ohlins upgrades. 😍 Such a rad rig. 🤯

Saw this thread, and thought I'd participate... 😅 My Slash 9.8XT, customized with some Slik graphics fork and shock decals, and ride wrapped front to back, top to bottom... done by myself... yes it was a mission, but fun none the less... 🤣 Also changed out the stock tyres to some Schwalbe goodness. 😎 Only pic I have of it "out in the wild" - but still on stock tyres here:

This is one nifty report... Well done to you guys for actually providing such an in depth report, it was an interesting read. Cheers!

The stem is 35mm, you won't be able to go shorter, unless you go with something very niche and it's going to be quite expensive (and pointless in my opinion), rather get the right size bike than mess with stem lenghts.

I bought a Large Slash 9.8XT from biket.co.za last week - they seem to have stock in size large again, they also seem to have 1 XL in stock if that fits you better. https://biket.co.za/products/2023-trek-slash-9-8?variant=41009569955979 I'm 1.81m tall, I always ride large, and the Slash in Large fits me super well, and the ride thus far is amazing!

So I ended up buying the 2023 Slash that comes with the Charger 3 ZEB Select+ (HSC & LSC, etc)... Will see how it goes, thus far the fork does feel super plush from just bouncing around on it in the street, and I haven't even started tuning it properly yet.

Hey there! I follow them too, not sure how common that issue is to be honest... the only reels I've seen on their page has been Fox (36/38/40)... only RS fork I've seen on there is a Reeba.

Just saw this video: It seems a lot of people are used to running 25-30% sag, whereas it seems RS recommends the ZEB be run at 20%... but I'd like to hear your feedback too. Cheers!

Greetings! I've heard from a few folks, and seen quite a few topics on ZEB forks, where people complain they are harsh, having to run super low PSI not to suffer from arm pump/numb hands, people not able to use the full travel, or just overall issues getting the forks dialed... This seems to boil down to negative and positive chambers being unable to equalize due to ports being blocked, then after a lower service, a lot of guys say the forks are better, some still battle and end up upgrading the damper (in the case of older Select, Select+ models, they get the RC3 damper from the Ultimate variant). So a few questions for you ZEB owners: What model are you running? Did this come on a new bike, or did you buy it separately? If on a bike, what bike? Were you happy with it out the box/on the bike? Did you have to do anything to get it dialed in? I'm looking at the Trek sales, and saw the Slash 9.8XT which has the ZEB Select+, and I've currently got a Lyrik Ultimate (RC2.1 - 160mm) which is a superb fork, so not really sure how to feel about the ZEB Select+ and Super Deluxe Select+ combo, as I don't want to buy a new bike and not be happy with the suspension on it. Cheers!

Excellent tips! Those little blue o-rings come out when regreasing/cleaning without one even noticing, and the preload collar doesn't need much tightening... I learned that the hard way. Lol I had many strikes on my Merida OneTwenty (140/120) with 175mm M8000 cranks and RaceFace Chester pedals. I currently own a Giant Reign (160/146) with 170mm Descendant cranks and Spank Spoon 110 pedals, and I've had very few strikes, even in the gnarliest of rock gardens we have here in The Tygerberg trails, but they are two very different bikes, and I've progressed with my riding a fair bit too, so know when to put a pedal down and when to keep them up. I'm currently building a Nukeproof Scout for longer, more mellow rides, and I was only able to get a 175mm Lyne AMP Crankset, but I'm not planning on doing too much in terms of "gnar" with it... I crash too much these days, breaking ribs, and smashing shoulders, to care to push myself anymore... taking a break from the "Eduro" life for a while, and then will most likely settle for a 150/140 trail bike over a full enduro rig, if Iever do go dual sus again.

For sure. I never hinted at this being sram's fault. I merely mentioned they are a bit more finicky and if you don't look after them, and set your preload correctly, this is most likely what you're going to do to your aluminium spindle, where Shimano's steel spindle may be more forgiving. My dub spindle on my 2020 Reign is still in amazing condition... many factors that contribute to crankset wear.

Yup! The dub spindle on my stylo carbon crank on my Scott Spark 910 looked almost as bad as this when I took them out for the first time after buying the bike 2nd hand... It was also a pain to get loose, but not as bad as my descendant crankset on my Giant Reign, where I almost gave up. The one in your picture is wild man! 🫣

You know when a 200+mm dropper isn't enough, you got some long legs! 😅 And trust me... those long legs can stomp those pedals. I've battled to keep up many times. 🤣🥲

As someone who has owned a few different cranksets over the years. Dub is by far the biggest pain, if you work on your own bikes. I've also nearly decided to go throw my bike down a cliff face at one stage, due to the absolute nightmare it can be to get the crank bolt loose... ended up using a massive pipe on my park tool 8mm crank/pedal wrench and just going with the notion of "if it breaks, it breaks". I've also seen how easily the dub spindle can wear out if you run with worn BB bearings or don't set the preload correctly (previous owner of bike left me this surprise). Then also the little plastic preload ring is easy to break if you overtighten the tiny 2mm allen bolt (ask me how I know this)... Shimano cranks are a lot nicer to work with in my opinion, and the 24mm steel spindle lasts forever. I was quite lucky to get my hands on a Lyne AMP crankset from Stoke a while back which I am going to use on my new build - like MORNE said, best of both worlds, 24mm spindle, pinch bolts on non-drive side crank arm to fasten and release easily, and a 3 bolt sram style chainring for easy maintenance/replacement. Also, in my opinion, not much difference between 170mm and 165mm, so if you can get 170mm just go with that, you'll be fine.

Thanks man - Just never heard this before (but it's the first time I'm servicing this fork since buying it from my friend). The fork does feel 100% though and feels super plush and smooth after the service and handled everything fine during the initial ride. Maybe another question for yourself (and possibly for @droo) - Does this sound go away usually after a few hours of riding - if so roughly how many? As I'd like to keep an eye/ear on it and rather have the fork checked out if it doesn't go away?

Thanks for the feedback @droo & @thebob Just to be clear here: I'm not saying the shop is wrong with their diagnosis/recommendation, I actually hold them in high regard as a lot of friends I ride with take their bikes and equipment there (as have I for the last few years)... I just wanted to get a 2nd opinion, as I don't want to risk damaging anything. The other thing is, the fork feels 100% when riding... I just imagined the equalizing/settling would've been done after an hour+ of riding features like rock gardens, drops, jumps, gaps, etc. I'll install the fork and go for a longer ride as soon as the weather permits, and see how it goes. Cheers!

Howzit people of the palace... trust you're all well. So I recently had a bit of an issue with my Rockshox Lyrik Ultimate (RC2.1), the CSU had a clacking/creaking noise under heavy front braking/when landing jumps, turned out it was the stanchions. Thankfully my Local Bike shop is able to press out the steerer & Stanchions from the CSU and fix this (done this before on a previous bikes Fox 34 Performance Elite with great results). So long story short, they did the work and also a 50 hour (lower leg service) while the fork was apart, collected the fork and noticed there was a strange squeaky noise coming from the air spring side (left side) of the fork in the first few mm of travel (see video below). Before I installed the fork on my bike, I sent the video to the bike shop, the mechanic that does all the suspension work phoned me and assured me it's only due to the fresh oil and sram butter, it'll settle down. I then went for a quick 1 hour ride at Bloemendal, put the fork through its paces (drops, jumps, gaps, rock gardens, etc). Fork feels 100%, and doesn't have any issues other than this noise in the first few mm of travel (slow or fast compressions, same sound). I noticed after the ride, the sound is still 100% the same, so I ended up taking the fork back to the shop the next day, and the suspension mechanic and owner of the shop both looked at the fork, and said it's normal (oil & sram butter), but I'm not comfortable with this - the fork didn't have this sound before (albeit this is the first service since I bought the fork from a mate), so not sure what to think at this stage... obviously I don't want to risk riding the fork like this and damage it ending up with expensive repairs/damage to the fork. I have also DM'd the vid to @droo on IG, but haven't received a response yet, so thought I'd get your input here as well, before I phone the shop again. Link to video: https://imgur.com/zOTjRpt

That picture is definitely from @thebikegarage - I'm willing to bet money (around R3500) this is a robbery waiting to happen...

Completely forgot about this thread - for those interested... The chaps at Droomers Yamaha were able to sort out the dings nicely - Not perfect, but 98% better than they were when I got the bike. 😎👍 So if I ever sell my bike, the stock rims are at least in an acceptable condition for the next owner, as I'll keep my aftermarket wheelset for my next bike.

Best description of their behaviour to date... 🤣 Adding my 2c: Reply with a "TSEK!" - Proceed to block. 😜

Thanks for the feedback gents... got hold of the owner of the MX place and he said I can drop the rims, they'll try sort them out for me. 👍

Thanks for the reply @BaGearA - I looked at the one ding and it seems if I'm not careful I might actually snap a piece off. I'll see what I can figure out, I'm actually waiting for feedback from the seller, as his dad owns a well known MX & Boat/Jetski place, and he actually said they'll take the rims and fix them for me, but now the son (who sold me the bike), isn't getting back to me on Whatsapp... Will give the shop a phone and ask the to speak to the dad and ask whether they'll still help or not.